Cross-country comparison of health policies in eight countries

Abstract

The primary objective of this paper is the comparison and describe features of health policies across the selected countries viz, Argentina, Australia, Finland, Kenya, India, South Korea, United Kingdom (U.K), United States (U.S). The second objective of the paper is to understand the political commitment in each country by comparing the allocation of adequate resources toward health. To study health policies, eight countries are selected from each geographical region and to determine political commitment toward health policy, three related variables are analyzed. Databases of the multilateral organization including the World Health Organization (WHO) are searched for the latest data. Out of the eight countries studied, only India and Kenya have a National Health Policy. The rest of the countries have medical care policies or health insurance policies or national law to lay down the vision for the health sector. The data indicate that countries which fall in the higher income bracket spend more on health. However, the spending data or the lack of it indicates that there is perhaps no focus on primary care, nutrition, and sanitation, among the prominent drivers of health outcomes. Many countries continue to struggle, to maintain continuity in the broad direction of the health policy. The realm of health process formulation is a major area which needs further research, evidence, re-orientation, and training for policymakers across countries to ensure structured and evidence-based policy formulation. Once there is a structured health policy process, the health policies may effectively address the ground-level issues and may lead to better health outcomes.